


Sometimes Planes Crash

by dangerouspheels



Series: Sometimes... (a check, please! series) [1]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Coming Out, Homophobia, Ice Skating Date, M/M, Some slurs, angst but also a good amount of fluff, homophobia-related violence during a hockey game, i probably swear a few times bc i'm me, involuntary outing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-18
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-18 11:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9381644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dangerouspheels/pseuds/dangerouspheels
Summary: He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first Check, Please! fanfic, and I really enjoyed writing it, so i hope it's kinda decent.  
> All the hockey players are completely fictional and I do not claim any real NHL players are homophobic.  
> Thank you for reading this!

He did it.   
When the Falcs had given Jack the A, a lot of reporters had doubted the decision. After all, he was a rookie with a turbulent past. He thought that all the fuss about his overdose had been over, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as his captaincy was announced, the same old discussions had started all over again. Could Jack handle this responsibility? Would he fall back into old habits? Was he really worth it?  
But Jack wasn’t a scared teenager anymore. Sure, his anxiety was still present as always, but he had it under control. He knew he could handle the responsibility. He knew he was worth it. And tonight, in his first game with the A on his jersey, he proved it by scoring his first NHL hat trick. When he scored his third goal, which gave the Falcs a 4-3 lead, two seconds before the end of the third period, the arena went crazy and they didn’t stop chanting his name for minutes after the final whistle. On the big screen, Jack saw Bad Bob Zimmermann chanting just as loudly as the rest of the fans.  
However, in that moment, right after the final whistle, Jack did not give a single fuck about his achievements or his dad. All his attention was focused on the boy next to Bob. Bitty was wearing a Zimmerman jersey and smiling one of those smiles that could make Jack melt on the spot.   
He snapped out of his gaze when he felt a hand on his shoulder and Tater whispered in his ear: “I’m understand Zimmboni loves his boyfriend, but maybe eyefucking him on ice is not good idea.”   
Jack quickly tore his eyes away from the stands and blushed.   
When he looked back a few moments later, Bitty was gone. Probably on his way to the locker room. Jack gave himself a mental pat on the back for inviting Bitty as his guest so he could come see him after the game. Although, admittedly, when he arranged it, he was thinking of having him there as support if he fucked up, he had very different plans now. Maybe they could find an empty storage room somewhere. 

‘Maybe’ was a bad word, Jack decided when he arrived at the locker room. Bitty in his jersey never failed to leave Jack all hot and bothered, but that, combined with his flushed cheeks from all the excitement and the way he hugged Jack close, but not close enough was plenty to drive Jack crazy. They had to find an empty storage room somewhere.   
They didn’t say a word until Jack had Bitty pinned against the door of some kind of conference room.   
“Jack,” Bitty breathed. Jack lost it.   
He crashed their lips together and didn’t hesitate before slipping his tongue in Bitty’s mouth, which earned him a soft moan.   
Jack didn’t care about the fact that he was still wearing his skates, and had to bend down a lot to kiss his tiny boyfriend – “I am average sized!” – but apparently Bitty did, because he pushed Jack back until the back of his legs hit a chair. Jack got the hint and sat down, and Bittle straddled him before pressing his lips to that spot right below his jaw that made Jack shiver.  
“I’m so proud of you, honey,” Bits said against his skin, voice already a bit hoarse.   
“Bits,” Jack moaned, but Bitty didn’t stop kissing his neck. He was careful not to leave any marks, but apparently he enjoyed feeling Jack fall apart under his lips.   
Jack threw his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, which was why he didn’t notice the door opening. When he opened his eyes, he was faced with one of the reporters and one of the Blackhawks D-men, who were presumably there to do an exclusive interview and were now both staring at him with wide eyes, and a camera.   
Bitty noticed that something was wrong and turned to follow Jack’s terrified eyes.   
Suddenly, the reporter seemed to realize that he had Jack Zimmermann, NHL star, making out with another man on camera, and his face turned into a wicked grin that made Jack feel more than a little uncomfortable.   
“This is going to be the story of the fucking century,” he said, and he turned around to walk away, but not before adding “thanks for the career boost, Zimmermann.” 

By the time the door closed, Jack was shaking and starting to have a hard time breathing.   
No, Bitty couldn’t see him like this.   
When Bitty moved away and left his lap empty, Jack knew this was it. Bitty had finally realized what a pain in the ass being with Jack was. Bitty didn’t deserve this. He deserved a nice life with a nice, mentally stable man who was not an NHL star.   
Still, the thought of Bitty leaving made Jack’s eyes sting.   
However, to Jack’s surprise, he didn’t leave. He sank to his knees in front of Jack and took his hands.   
“Jack? Jack, please, look at me.”   
He couldn’t. He could hear the panic in Bitty’s voice, and he didn’t want to see the evidence of how he had so majorly fucked up this beautiful boy’s life. Bitty kept talking anyway.   
“I love you, Jack. And I know you can’t say it right now, but I know you love me too, and we’ll get through this. Maybe the footage is blurry and you can just deny the whole thing and-”  
“I don’t want to deny it,” Jack said, to both his and Bitty’s surprise, and with that realization, he started to calm down. He didn’t want to deny it. He didn’t know if the video was live or not, but the footage would be on the internet within a few hours.  
In a few hours, he would be out.   
He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it.   
“Jack… why are you smiling?” Bitty asked carefully.   
Jack didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled his boyfriend back into his lap and cupped his face with his large hands.   
“Eric Richard Bittle,” Bitty visibly held his breath, “will you go on a date with me?”   
Bitty froze for a second, and burst out laughing.   
“What?” Jack asked, “What did I do?”   
“I’m sorry, honey,” Bitty said as he got himself back together, “for a second I thought you were gonna propose.”   
Jack’s breath hitched.   
“And… I- I mean,” Bitty stuttered, “not that I wouldn’t say yes, because let’s be real, I would definitely say yes, but-”  
“What?”   
Bitty froze.   
“Oh fuck no I’m sorry honey, forget I said that. Hell, just forget this whole conversation. I’d love to go on a date with you.”   
“Bits.” Jack said, and Bitty looked at him with his big eyes, full of embarrassment. “Would you really want to marry me?”   
He only asked because he suddenly realized how much he wanted to marry Bitty. Okay, maybe not suddenly. He realized it when he came home to the smell of fresh pie. He realized it when he woke up with Bitty curled into his side. He realized it when he looked at his own parents and saw himself and Bitty in them. But he had never allowed himself to seriously think about it, because Bitty deserved better than being his secret. Now, though, he was not Jack’s secret anymore.   
Bitty suddenly looked down to his hands shyly.   
“Of course I would. I mean, maybe not now, but someday? Yeah.”   
Jack’s heart did not know how to handle that. His brain didn’t either. But there were some things he didn’t need his brain for. He lifted Bitty’s chin and placed the gentlest kiss on his lips.   
“I love you,” he said, “and someday sounds good.”   
Bitty looked up at him in shock. Was the fact that he was it for Jack really a surprise to him? Damn, Jack needed to up his game if this boy still didn’t realize how much Jack loved him.   
“But maybe we should go on that date first, eh?” he added.   
Bitty smiled.   
“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”  
They were quiet for a moment, just content with being in each other’s presence, until Bitty sighed.   
“Fuck, Jack, this is going to be awful for a while, isn’t it?”  
Jack wanted nothing more than to deny that, but he nodded. Then he got an idea.   
“Hey Bits, maybe we should go on that date now?”   
Bitty looked at him like he had just told him his mom had eight arms.   
“What?”   
“You know, I’m inevitably getting outed in a few hours. The video wasn’t live because then your phone would be blowing up right now, but that reporter isn’t going to keep this to himself. So we can just as well go out and enjoy ourselves before the shitstorm starts. Before you realize what I dragged you into.”  
Jack averted his eyes to the hands in his lap, suddenly aware of the horrible situation he had put Bitty into again.   
But Bitty didn’t let him. He cupped Jack’s face and forced him to look into those big, brown eyes.   
“I would love to go on a date with you tonight, Mr. Zimmermann. But you need to shower first. And we need to talk to George. We can’t prevent this from happening, but we can at least give her a head start.”   
Jack was still getting more and more amazed by Bitty every day. While Jack was thinking about himself, Bitty was already thinking about the team and the solutions to their situation.   
“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go shower. Can you- can you maybe talk to George? She loves you and… you know… you’re better at this talking stuff than I am and-”  
“Of course, honey. I’ll talk to George. You go take a shower and come to her office when you’re done.”   
“Okay. Okay.” Jack said and then he didn’t know what to say anymore, so he pulled Bitty to his chest. “I love you, so much.”   
“I love you too, honey,” Bittle whispered in the crook of Jack’s neck, “we’ll get through this.”  
“Yeah. We will.” 

20 minutes later, Jack walked into George’s office after standing in the hall for a few moments to get himself together.   
He loved Bitty. He knew Bitty loved him back. He knew they would get through this, but that didn’t make it any easier. George would inevitably be furious at him for not being more careful.   
But when he opened the door, he was greeted by a smiling Bitty and George.  
“Jack, there you are!” George greeted him. “Sit down!”  
Jack nervously made his way over to the chair next to Bitty and sat down.   
“I’m sorry,” he started, but George interrupted him.   
“No, Jack. You’re not going to apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. This was an accident and if that reporter decides to share this information with the world, he’s a disgusting pig and I will personally make sure he never writes another word again, understood?”   
Bitty smiled at him encouragingly to say see, it’s gonna be okay.  
“Okay,” Jack said, “but what now?”   
“Well, Eric has told me what happened, and he says you don’t want to deny anything?”  
Jack nodded.  
“Okay, that’s good. I’d rather kick the asses of anyone who dares to say a negative word about you than see you hide someone who obviously makes you very happy.”   
Jack and Bitty both blushed and Jack reached for Bitty’s hand. Bitty squeezed his hand and Jack felt himself relax a little bit.   
“So,” George continued, “there’s not much you can do right now. I suggest you take your boy out on that date while me and the team prepare for impact.”   
Bitty laughed. “You make it sound like we’re on a plane that’s about to crash.”   
George smiled, but Jack had done the media smile enough times to know that George was in fact trying very hard to stay calm.   
“Yeah. I suggest you boys have some fun before the plane crashes.” 

And fun they had.   
They had dinner at a small, low-key restaurant in Providence. Jack would have rather taken Bitty to some kind of fancy restaurant, but since Bitty was still wearing his Zimmermann jersey and Jack had put on his robber outfit instead of his suit, that was not really an option. They’d get a lot more chances to go out and get a fancy dinner anyway, so neither of them really minded.   
As they were not used to being able to be affectionate in public, dinner went pretty much the same as any other time they had dinner together. That didn’t make it less fun, though. Jack didn’t think it was possible to not have fun when he was with Bitty. He could listen to him recounting ‘the pie recipe incident’, something that had apparently occurred last week between his mother and his aunt, for hours.   
But the real fun started when they were happily walking through the city (hand in hand!) and passed the public ice skating rink.   
Bitty was about to walk past it when Jack started pulling him towards the entrance.   
“Jack, what are you doing?”   
“I just suddenly feel the incredible urge to try out those figure skating moves you taught me. I love you, but my true love will always be the ice, and I feel like I haven’t showed my love enough today,” Jack smirked.   
Bitty rolled his eyes. “I don’t even have my skates with me.”   
“Me neither, I left them at the arena. We can just rent skates.”   
Bitty sighed. “Okay.”   
Jack’s face broke into a huge grin and he pulled his boyfriend towards the entrance.   
It was already pretty late, and the girl behind the counter looked like she would commit a murder to get out of there, so he told her to keep the change.   
Her eyes lit up and she even smiled a little when she said: “Thank you very much. You and your son can pick up your skates over there.”   
Jack heard Bitty gasp and he was about to correct the girl, but instead, he turned to his boyfriend and said: “You can wait over here while your daddy picks up the skates, Dicky,” and he burst out laughing when he saw Bitty’s scandalized face.   
“Jack Laurent Zimmerman, if you ever say something like that again, I swear I will break up with you.”   
The girl then visibly realized her mistake and started apologizing.   
Because Jack was still laughing, Bitty said: “It’s fine, honey. It’s not the first time someone made that mistake.”   
That caught Jack’s attention. “When has someone made that mistake before?”   
Bitty looked at him in confusion for a second before responding: “Where were you even last year? During the playoffs, Holster had a beard, and every time we went out together, people thought I was his son. At some point, he and Rans actually considered just adopting me. How did you miss that?”   
Jack laughed again. “You know me, I lived under a rock at Samwell. Lardo even calls me the rock lord.”  
“Of fucking course. My boyfriend, the rock lord,” Bitty muttered, now smiling, as he walked off to get some skates.   
Jack followed, and 5 minutes later, they were on the ice. Luckily, there were a lot less people than usual because it was already late. The only people left on the ice were a few couples and a group of girls who seemed to do more standing still and gossiping than actually skating.   
This was very fortunate, because Jack hadn’t lied when he said that he wanted to try a few figure skating moves. Since they came out to the team, Jack had been skating at Faber a few times, and Bitty had taught him some couple skating moves. They never succeeded, but it was fun nonetheless.   
When he voiced his intentions, Bitty looked at him worriedly.   
“Are you sure? I mean, I know you wanted to go on a real date but we’re in public and there’s a big chance that someone will recognize you, so-”  
“Bits,” Jack interrupted. “I’m sure.”   
To amplify this, he pressed his lips to the place where Bitty’s forehead wasn’t covered by his hat.   
“Now, let’s skate some rounds to warm up.”   
“Aye aye, captain,” Bitty muttered before taking off and skating backwards, away from Jack.   
Their ‘warming up’ quickly turned into a race, and within a few minutes they were both more than warm enough, and the few people in the rink had probably realized they were not the average people that came to this rink to have some fun despite barely knowing how to skate.   
Bitty decided that he wanted to do some jumps first – only easy ones, though, because the rental skates were fairly shit – so Jack just leaned back against the boards and watched.   
He loved to play hockey with Bitty and he loved to watch him play hockey, but nothing would ever compare to watching him figure skate. The grace, the beauty, the way Bitty looked when he lost himself to skating for a moment, were things Jack would never get tired of.   
He was almost disappointed when Bitty stopped after a while to skate over to Jack. ‘Almost’ being the keyword, because how could anyone ever be disappointed when their beautiful boyfriend suggests to skate together and try that lift that they’d attempted at Faber a few times? 

Unfortunately, Jack was a pretty horrible figure skater, so they went tumbling to the ice as soon as Bitty’s skates left the ice.   
Less unfortunate was the position they ended up in: Bitty on his back on the ice and Jack almost entirely on top of him.   
Jack would’ve been worried about Bitty’s fall if he hadn’t started giggling as soon as he hit the ice. At the sound of Bitty’s giggles, Jack couldn’t contain his own laughter anymore either.   
After a few moments of pure happiness, Bitty turned his head to the side to look at their surroundings and he suddenly got a worried look in his eyes.   
“Jack, someone is taking pictures,” he said, and he tried to wriggle out from under Jack.   
Jack considered this for a moment before lifting one hand off the ice to tilt Bitty’s face to look at Jack and said, “Let them,” before kissing him softly.   
Bitty gasped into the kiss, but quickly wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck nonetheless.   
It was a sweet, short kiss, since Jack was not the biggest fan of PDA anyway, and when they parted, Jack whispered against Bitty’s lips: “You know, I think I love you more than the ice.”   
“First you kiss me on the ice and now you outright say you love me more? Maybe we should get off the ice before it takes revenge on me for stealing you,” Bitty laughed. “You’re also getting kinda heavy,” he added.   
“Oh, haha. Yeah. Sorry.”   
Jack quickly got up and extended his hand to help Bitty up. He felt all warm when Bitty didn’t let go of his hand once he was back on his feet.   
They were ready to leave the ice when one of the girls they had seen earlier approached them.   
Bitty gave Jack a look to say ‘that’s the girl who took the pictures’.   
“Hey,” she said, looking guilty but determined, and there also seemed to be… something else, “you’re… you’re Jack Zimmerman, right?”   
Jack nodded. He’d rather spend some more time with Bitty than talk to fans right now, but this girl had pictures of them and she looked like she really wanted to say something, so Jack decided to hear her out.   
“Uh- I, uh… just saw the news,” she stuttered, “and I... me and my friends,” she gestured to the group of girls on the other side of the rink, “just wanted to say that, uh… whoever made that video is a dick, and we support you and…” she looked at Bitty.   
“Eric,” Bitty filled in.   
“Yeah, you and Eric. And I think we speak for a lot of the fans if we say we’ve got your back.”   
To everyone’s surprise, Bitty stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the girl.   
“Thank you. That means a lot,” he said.   
Meanwhile, Jack had frozen beside them. The video was out. Jack was out. The plane had crashed.   
“How long?” he asked.   
Both Bitty and the girl looked up to him in confusion.   
“What?”   
“How long has the video been out?”   
“Oh, uh… not that long,” she tapped her phone a few times, “4 minutes.”   
For some reason, this was still a shock for Jack. He had expected this, but somewhere deep inside, he had still hoped that reporter would keep this to himself.   
Bitty immediately noticed Jack’s panic and stepped away from the girl to cup Jack’s face with his gloved hands.   
“Jack, please look at me. We knew this would happen, George and the team are ready for this. We’ll be fine. These people have your back,” he nodded towards the girl, who was watching the situation unfold.   
“We really do, Jack,” she confirmed.   
Jack let his forehead rest against Bitty’s for a while until his breath evened out.   
No matter how much he didn’t want to be in this situation, he couldn’t deny that being with Bitty in public like this, without having to worry about being seen, was nice.   
“I’m okay,” he stated when he felt like it was the truth. Then he got an idea. He turned to the girl.   
“What’s your name?” he asked.   
Her breath hitched for a moment, but she quickly got herself together and answered: “Emma.”   
“Okay, Emma,” Jack started, “I believe you took some pictures?”   
Emma’s face went beet red and she started sputtering: “Yeah- yeah, I did… but I- I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have done that, and I- I can delete them right now, I promise I wasn’t planning on outing you or anything-”  
“Emma,” Jack interrupted her, “it’s fine.”   
“I promise I didn’t mean to-”  
“I know. I believe you. That’s not what I meant to say. I just wanted to ask if you took any good pictures?”   
Emma stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before she seemed to process his question.   
“Y- yeah, I, uh… took a photography class,” Jack smiled, “so I like to think I take some decent pictures,” Emma laughed.   
“Can I see them?” Jack asked.   
Emma looked like she had no idea where this was going, but she complied anyway, and showed Jack the photos on her phone. There was one of Jack and Bitty right before Bitty’s skates left the ice during the lift, which made it look like Jack actually had a clue what he was doing. There was a picture of them laying on the ice and laughing. The next one, presumably taken a few seconds later, showed Bitty looking almost directly into the camera – but it looked like he hadn’t realized there was a camera yet, because he was still smiling – and Jack looking down at him lovingly. The last picture was the perfect shot of Jack and Bitty kissing. Even with her phone, Emma had framed these pictures perfectly, the light of the street lanterns shining at the perfect angle.   
“These are amazing,” Jack said.   
Emma blushed deeply. “Thank you. I can send them to you, if you want? I can, uh… DM them to you on twitter?” she offered.   
Bitty scoffed. “No, send them to me. Jack Zimmerman can’t use twitter to save his life,” he said, and he shoved Jack playfully.   
They then exchanged twitter usernames, and after that Jack and Bitty took off for real, but not before shouting, “Thank you!” to the girls who had been silently observing the whole conversation. Jack swore he could hear some of them squeal. 

“Hey Bits?” Jack said while they were unlacing their skates.   
Bitty hummed.   
“Maybe you could post one of those photos on, uh… Instagram? Is that what it’s called?”   
Bitty looked up at him in surprise.   
“Really?”  
Jack nodded.   
“Oh. Uh, yeah, of course. Which one do you like best?” Bitty asked while opening up the app.   
Jack thought about this for a few moments before deciding: “The one where you look into the camera. You look good in that one.”   
Bitty put a hand over his heart and looked quasi-offended. “Jack Laurent Zimmermann, are you saying I don’t look good in the rest of them?”   
Jack knew it was supposed to be a joke, but he couldn’t resist lightly dragging his lips over Bitty’s jaw before whispering in his ear: “You have no idea how good you look. Especially in my jersey. But I think you’d look even better if you were wearing only my jersey.”   
Bitty seemingly choked on nothing and he hit Jack in the chest.   
“You can’t just say stuff like that in public!”   
Jack smirked. “Oh, but I can now, remember?”   
Bitty blushed.   
“Okay, I’m just gonna post that picture now and then we can go home.” 

\---

Eric Bittle @omgcheckplease  
Jack Zimmermann sure knows how to have a first date instagram.com/p/HdhJkslxv3

\---


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this, and thank you for the nice comments and all the kudos on the first chapter, it really means a lot and it motivates me to keep writing! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

When Jack woke up the next morning and stretched his arms to reach for Bitty and pull him close, he was met with warm but empty sheets. Normally, this wouldn’t concern him – Bitty loved to cook breakfast on the rare occasion that they didn’t have to go anywhere in the morning – but considering the events of the evening before, Jack couldn’t help but worry, so he quickly threw on a t-shirt before making his way out of the bedroom.

Apparently his worry hadn’t been unjustified, as Bitty was not cooking, but standing in front of his laptop, one hand covering his mouth. Jack could see him shaking on his legs from where he was standing.

Jack’s first instinct was to slam the laptop shut and drag Bitty back to bed to stay there for the rest of the day, but his plan fell apart as soon as he switched his attention from his boyfriend to the laptop screen. There, on the screen, was a copy of the picture Bitty posted on Instagram the day before – which was not the concerning part, they had expected this, and Jack couldn’t deny it was a nice picture – and an article of which Jack could only read the headline.

“Bits? What is this?” Jack asked. Bitty gasped and slammed the laptop shut. He wiped at his eyes quickly before he turned around and tried to do his best to smile believably.

“Gosh, honey, you almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Oh Bits,” Jack sighed and he took a few steps to wrap his arms around his boyfriend. “You have to deal with this because of me, so I’m not going to let you deal with it alone. We’re a team, remember?”

This seemed to be enough for Bitty to let his tears flow, dampening Jack’s t-shirt.

“I’m- I’m sorry, honey,” he sniffled, “it’s just, the stuff these articles say…”

He was now sobbing loudly into Jack’s chest, and Jack pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

“Let me read them?” he asked when Bitty calmed down a bit.

Bitty nodded and untangled himself from Jack.

They settled down on the couch, pressed close together with the laptop on Jack’s lap.

 

**‘College friend of Jack Zimmermann seeks fame?’**

_“Last night, in the aftermath of one of the greatest games of hockey every played by Jack Zimmermann, a video surfaced of the NHL star and another man – most likely one of his college line mates, Eric Bittle – being intimate after the game. Zimmermann is undeniably recognizable in the clip, but the identity of the other man would have remained a mystery if it wasn’t for a picture posted on the Instagram account of the abovementioned Eric Bittle, merely minutes after the original video was leaked._

_The picture shows Zimmermann and Bittle in an incriminating position at the public skating rink in Providence. Bittle captioned the picture: “Jack Zimmermann sure knows how to have a first date”. Zimmermann seems unaware of the fact that his picture was being taken, and this raises a lot of questions. Did Zimmermann consent to this picture being posted? Did Bittle post it solely in search of fame?_

_If the latter was the case, he has definitely succeeded. The picture is being massively shared on social media: ‘The first gay NHL player’ is a story that doesn’t only concern the hockey world, and Bittle has managed to put himself right in the center of the attention, which wouldn’t have been the case if only the original video had been leaked._

_Some are even doubting Zimmermann’s consent to the whole situation. They argue that a star like Zimmermann would know better than to be intimate with another man in the Falconer’s facility – as being discovered could potentially ruin his young career – and he might have not been consenting to the actions seen in the leaked video either, on top of the lack of confirmation of any consent to the posting of the Instagram picture._

_Although it seems very likely that Zimmermann is a victim in this unfortunate situation, we can only speculate, as there has yet to be an official statement by either Zimmermann or Bittle, which we expect to come very soon.”_

 

By the time Jack finished reading the article, Bitty was quietly sobbing again.

“Bits,” Bitty looked up to Jack with swollen eyes, “can you text me the pictures that girl took?”

“Uh… of course, honey.”

Bittle didn’t seem to understand where this way going, but sent Jack the photos anyway.

George had set up a verified twitter account for Jack last summer, and despite the popular belief, Jack did know how to use twitter, he just couldn’t be bothered to. Despite his complete absence from social media, he still had a few hundred thousand followers.

Jack decided that the time had come to put those to use, and he typed out a tweet while being stared at by a wide-eyed Bitty. He attached the picture of them kissing the previous night and sent out the tweet for the whole world.

 

 

**Jack Zimmermann** _@OfficialJackZimmermann_

My boyfriend (whom I love very much) posted last night’s picture with my full consent. Here’s another one _pic.twitter.com/AEj5i6sD90_

He knew he was probably making George’s job even harder, but he didn’t care. Jack could handle bad articles being written about himself. He was used to it, after all.

What he couldn’t handle was shit being said about Bitty, who wouldn’t have been in this situation if it wasn’t for Jack in the first place, and he would do everything in his power to prevent anyone from ever writing a bad word about Bitty again.

Meanwhile, a Bitty was still staring at Jack teary-eyed.

“Well, I did not expect that,” he declared.

“What? Bits, you didn’t think I’d just let them get away with saying stuff like this about you, did you?” Jack asked.

“No, but…” he paused for a moment, “Jack. You just called me your boyfriend and posted a picture of us kissing on your _verified_ twitter account,” he stressed the word ‘ _verified_ ’ to indicate that they were going to have a talk about that later, “which you apparently know how to use.”

“Yeah,” Jack smiled. Even though this whole situation was pretty much his fault, at that moment, he was pretty proud of himself.

“ _Jack_ ,” Bitty emphasised, “you know how to use twitter.”

Of course Bitty would choose his unexpected knowledge of social media as the most important part of Jack’s public declaration of love.

“And you have a verified twitter account,” he continued.

Jack nodded, all the anger leaving his body at the sight of Bitty’s growing smile.

Bitty looked up at him in awe. “Gosh, my boyfriend is a celebrity.”

Jack laughed and intended to give him a quick peck on the lips, but apparently Bitty did not agree with that, as he wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck and pulled him down on the sofa with him. Jack did not complain.

 

The press conference the next day went surprisingly well. Jack was accompanied by not only Georgia, but also Marty and Thirdy, who had apparently begged George to let them join as soon as they heard about the press conference. The rest of the world probably thought about it as two players with A’s assisting the third one, but Jack knew they were there as his friends rather than his fellow alternate captains, which made him feel slightly better about the fact that Bitty was back at Samwell. No matter how much he needed him, Jack had insisted that Bitty’s education was more important than this stupid press conference.

If Jack called Ransom and Holster to keep an eye on Bitty and fight anyone who even looked at him the wrong way, Bitty didn’t need to know.

Despite Bitty’s absence, Jack managed to stay relatively calm during the press conference. He stated that he was bisexual – which would most likely be ignored by every major sports network – and made sure it was very clear that his relationship with Eric Bittle and any previous relationships – this part was mostly for Kent’s sake – were private and off-limit for the press.

He guaranteed that his sexuality had never affected his play and would never affect his play in the future, which made Marty and Thirdy laugh and Marty exclaimed: “I sure hope it hasn’t affected your play! Imagine if you had even more potential than you’re showing right now! The Falcs could just fire all of us and put only you on the ice, and you’d still win!”

Laughter went through the whole room, but when George leaned towards her microphone, everyone went silent, expecting her to say something serious.

“I think I need to remind you Jack is only a rookie, Marty. Maybe you should start looking for a job in case he hasn’t reached his full potential yet,” she joked.

Jack couldn’t have wished for a better team. Ever since he realized he was not straight, a press conference about his sexuality had been his worst nightmare. But here he was, surrounded by his friends, who had managed to make it seem like this was not a big deal.

Jack didn’t think he could be any more grateful, but when they walked of the stage, out of the press’ sight, after all of them answered a few more questions, he was immediately enveloped in a bone-crushing hug by Shitty.

“Shits, what are you doing here?”

“Lards told me you made Bitty go back to Samwell,” Shitty explained, “and I figured you might need some support.”

He then let Jack go, luckily, because a man needs to breathe every once in a while to stay alive.

“I see that my support is not needed, though,” he added, nodding towards Marty and Thirdy.

“Yeah,” Jack smiled, “they’re nice guys. They wear pants most of the time, though, so it’s not the same.”

“Brah, you just have to call and I’ll be at your door, without pants, within less than 2 hours, I promise,” this got Shitty a weird look from the people within hearing distance, “that’s what BFFs are for.”

“Haha, yeah. Thanks. When do you have to go back to Boston?” Jack asked.

“I don’t have to be back until tomorrow afternoon. But, as much as I’d love to have a good old BFF sleepover at your fancy apartment, we already have other plans.”

Jack raised his eyebrows. “We?”

“Yes, Jack. We,” Shitty nodded. “We are going to have lunch at your apartment – oh don’t act like you have no food, I bet Bitty leaves you more food than you can eat – and I happen to know that you don’t have to be back in Providence until tomorrow afternoon, so-”

“Wait, what?” Jack interrupted. “Shits, I have a game tomorrow. Morning skate isn’t optional.”

“Indeed, it isn’t optional,” Georgia’s voice sounded from behind Jack, and Jack wanted to start apologizing for ruining Shitty’s plans. “Morning skate is not an option for you, Jack. I don’t want to see you on the ice tomorrow morning. Go see your boy.”

Shitty’s face broke into a huge grin, and Jack couldn’t remember a time he had ever been so happy to not be allowed on the ice.

“So,” Shitty continued, “you don’t have to be back until tomorrow afternoon and I don’t have to be in Boston until tomorrow afternoon, which means we are going to visit or favourite significant others at our only true home, the most beautiful frat house on the Samwell campus, also known as the Haus.”

As he was already dragging Jack to the parking lot, Jack had to express his gratitude by shouting “Thanks!” at Marty, Thirdy, and George, who had joined the two men in a conversation that appeared to be funny, judging from their giggling.

The three of them turned around and waved at Jack enthusiastically, despite the fact that he was being dragged away by the man that had loudly promised Jack naked sleepovers less than 5 minutes ago.

“Bye Jack, have fun!” Georgia said, and Jack didn’t know if he should feel uncomfortable about the slight smirk that implied she was very aware of how much Jack was looking forward to being in Bitty’s bed for another night.

“Wait, Jack! Say hi to Bitty for me!” Marty shouted.

“Yeah, and thank him for that pie he made us!” Thirdy added.

Jack had the feeling his teammates liked Bitty more than they liked him, despite not knowing Bitty at all. He didn’t blame them. In the past few years he had learned that Bitty’s pies were a very reliable way to make people like him.

 

“Jack,” Shitty started while they ate lunch – lunch that had indeed been left behind by Bitty – at Jack’s apartment, “you know we’re all really proud of you, right?”

“Yeah, I know,” Jack said, “even though I don’t fully understand why. It’s not like coming out was some kind of brave move, I didn’t have a choice.”

Shitty put down his fork, meaning that it was time for a “Jack Zimmermann, you are a fucking beaut and I’m gonna keep lecturing you until you believe it”-speech.

“Dude, I was actually talking about progress and your life in general, but I want you to know that I wholeheartedly disagree with you there. Okay, that video leaking was not your fault, but the way you decided to handle it was entirely your choice. You could’ve denied it. I’ve seen the articles, you could’ve blamed it all on Bitty and the whole hockey world would’ve believed you.”

“I could never-”

“I know,” Shitty interrupted him, “but for that alone you should get more credit that you give yourself. Believe me, everyone is surprised – no offense – at how well you’re both handling this situation. Lardo was so worried about Bits when she heard the news, I’ve never seen her like that. But apparently her worries were kind of unnecessary. That boy sure is amazing. I’m sure Lards would be giving you the “If you hurt him, I’ll break your legs”-talk right now if she didn’t think you were already hiding a ring in one of your drawers.” 

“Well,” Jack looked down at his food and blushed, “not in one of my drawers.”

Shitty choked on his own spit, managed to push over a glass of water and almost fell out of his chair.

“BRAH.”

“I mean, uh…” Jack stuttered, “I might have bought a ring after Bittle left yesterday?”

Shitty’s jaw was on the floor.

“But, I, uh… I- I’m not gonna propose or anything, I know it’s too soon and Bittle’s still in college-”

Before he knew it, Jack was on the floor with a slightly too enthusiastic Shitty on top of him. His chair was somewhere in the mix too, as Shitty had just tackled him in a hug without bothering to think about the uncomfortable position they would end up in.

“Brah,” Shitty repeated, softly and fondly this time, and Jack could feel him smile against his shoulder.

“Yeah,” Jack sighed happily, and he returned his best friend’s hug.

 

When they arrived at the house, Shitty couldn’t stop smiling at Bitty. Luckily, he kept his mouth shut, and when Bitty asked what was going on, Jack pretended he had no idea what caused Shitty’s mood.

“He’s probably just really missed your pies,” he said, hoping the mention of pies would make Bitty drop the subject. He wasn’t mistaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I decided to divide this fic into 3 chapters, which means there will be 1 more chapter after this (and i have so many ideas for sequels and sidefics but those might take a while bc i'm an incredibly slow writer)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO this is the last chapter of this story, but i'm gonna make this a series with different POVs and ships so there will be a lot more crappy fanfiction!  
> This chapter contains some Kent Parson and I know that some people have problems with him, so if you don't want to read about Kent you probably shouldn't read this chapter!  
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading this!

During the next few weeks, Jack did a few interviews – mainly because Georgia forced him to – in which he talked about being a queer athlete. They all went surprisingly well. He knew that George had only chosen news outlets that had reacted positively to him being outed, but he still hadn’t expected them to be _nice_. They all respected his wish to stay clear of the topic of relationships, most of them even acknowledged his sexuality, and one of the men seemed genuinely interested in what he had to say about Samwell.

“You know, my teammates didn’t know I was bisexual until very recently. Even my best friend didn’t know until very recently. But I have never felt more accepted for who I really was, despite the fact that my team didn’t actually know who I really was. Of course Samwell has a reputation of being a great school for LGBTQ+ youth – I’m not gonna pretend this wasn’t part of the reason why I chose to go there in the first place – but before I went there, I couldn’t have dreamed of how much they helped me to grow, as a hockey player and as a person. They showed me that I didn’t have to do everything alone. I didn’t have to win games on my own. I didn’t have to keep my sexuality to myself out of fear of losing their respect and friendship. They had my back on and off the ice, without ever asking me anything I wasn’t prepared to give.

Many people criticize my decision to go to college, but I can assure you that I wouldn’t be the player I am today if I hadn’t made that decision.”

This might have been the longest string of words to ever come out of Jack Zimmermann’s mouth. He had practiced what he wanted to say over and over again, and now it was over, he was pretty satisfied with it.

The interviewer smiled before following up with a question: “Excuse me if this question is intrusive or inappropriate, but you said you didn’t come out to your teammates, despite the fact that they were very supportive. Why was this, if I may ask?”

The man seemed genuinely scared that he had crossed a line, so Jack smiled to reassure him.

“Well, despite knowing that my team had my back, information leaking about me being anything but straight was still a horrifying thought. The NHL isn’t the most LGBTQ+ friendly place – which is a very important topic, but I think that’ll have to be for another time – and I assumed I would have to choose between my sexuality and my career. I trusted my team, but it was simply safer to not take the risk,” Jack explained.

The interviewer nodded. “I understand, and I’m truly sorry you felt like you had to choose between yourself and your career, but I’m sure your courage will make sure many young athletes in the future will not share this fear. And I think you don’t have to worry about your career anymore, after the hockey you played in the past few months!” He laughed.

“Yeah. I just hope this can make a difference.”

“I’m sure it will, Jack. Thank you, and good luck playing the Bruins tomorrow!”  

“Thank you,” Jack laughed, and he realized that he had actually quit enjoyed this interview.

 

 

After the story died down a bit, life almost went back to normal. Jack went back to his normal training schedule, Bitty went back to his normal college life. Now, though, Jack could take Bitty on a date during the weekends. Bitty could sit in the WAG section, which the Falcs had renamed the partners section, when he came to see one of Jack’s games. The day after the first game Bitty saw since they came out, Jack went to practice with two baskets of baked goods for Thirdy’s wife, because “She was _so nice_ , Jack. I need to bake her some pies to thank her.”

 

Originally, Jack hadn’t wanted Bitty to come to his games. The whole ‘coming out’ thing had gone pretty well, but Jack wasn’t stupid enough to think the whole NHL would just suddenly cease to be homophobic. He didn’t want Bitty to be there if things got ugly.

However, Bitty argued that he would would watch the games anyway, whether it was from the stands or from his couch, and if things got ugly, he didn’t want to be helpless at home. Jack couldn’t deny that he was right.

Apparently Jack wasn’t the only one that expected things to escalate on the ice, because before the first game his coach told him: “Okay, kid. This might not be an easy game. Things might get nasty. We’ll all have your back, but don’t let it affect you. Don’t fight. Don’t take unnecessary penalties. Don’t even talk back. Don’t give them the satisfaction of getting to you.”

Jack nodded and stepped on the ice. The only thing he could do now was play hockey, something he happened to be good at.

After the first period it was clear that the Blackhawks were playing dirty. Jack had been hit more in the last twenty minutes than in the rest of his season altogether. As a result, though, the hawks had taken a few penalties, which lead to a goal and an assist on Marty’s goal for Jack. Overall Jack was pretty happy with his first period, despite clearly being targeted. Now all he had to do was trying to survive and sustaining their 2-0 lead.

The latter was surprisingly easy, as the hawks seemed more determined to prevent the former from happening than to score goals.

He had expected it. He truly had. That didn’t mean it was any easier to have all the air get knocked out of his lungs by being slammed into the boards and hearing Johansson, the hawks’ defenseman, say “that’s what you get, fag” while skating away.

Jack was about to drop his gloves when he remembered what his coach had told him before the game. Don’t fight. Don’t give him the satisfaction of drawing a penalty.

However, before Jack could skate away, Tater’s fist hit the d-man’s jaw.

“You dare to call Zimmboni that one more time, I make sure you don’t step foot on ice ever again, you rat,” Tater threatened. Jack’s mind didn’t have the time to process what was happening before all the Falcs who were on the ice were on Johansson.

 

 

The first few games after that were just as rough, but after a few weeks, the news had spread that the fastest way to get Alexei Mashkov’s fist on your face was to insult Jack Zimmermann. After that, Jack only got some glares and the occasional hit. Nothing he couldn’t handle.

Until the second game against the Aces. Jack hadn’t been looking forward to it anyway, as playing against Kent still made him more nervous than a normal game would. He didn’t expect the Aces to be homophobic, though, as he assumed Kent wouldn’t allow such behaviour in his team, whether or not he was out to his team.

Jack was mostly right. Seeing Kent was still not easy, but everyone just played the game. Everyone but Tim White, Kent’s linemate. It started with the regular stuff, the glares and some hits that weren’t necessary. But when the Falcs went into the third period leading 4-1 – with a goal and two assists for Jack – things started to escalate. White’s hits started getting rougher and more frequent. The glares turned into whispered slurs where no one but Jack could hear them. Jack didn’t want to give White the satisfaction of drawing a penalty, though. He was not going to fight tonight.

Merely minutes before the final horn, all his good intentions went up in smoke when he got slammed into the boards and onto the ice by White, who managed to make something explode inside Jack by smirking and laughed condescendingly: “Even if I had known you were gay, I wouldn’t have expected ‘tiny blond trophy twinks’ to be the great Jack Zimmermann’s type.

Yet, before Jack could get to his feet to punch the smirk of White’s face, Kent Parson’s fist connected with his own linemate’s jaw. Even though Jack didn’t really know Kent anymore, he could see the white-hot anger in his eyes as White tumbled to the ice. Everyone seemed to be taken aback by Kent’s violent behaviour against his own teammate, so the officials were not quick enough to intervene before Kent, who was at least 5 inches smaller than White, took his linemate by the front of the jersey and said, almost hissed: “One. Jack is bisexual, not gay.” White didn’t try to fight his way out, as he knew hitting Kent Parson might be the fastest way to lose his job. He just let himself undergo the wrath of his captain. “Two. I think you might want to keep up with what our scouts are doing, because if you did, you’d known that the Aces would love to replace your sorry ass with that ‘tiny blond trophy twink’ as soon as he gets out of college.” Jack’s mouth fell open. “And three.” The officials seemed completely lost as to what to do, and they didn’t even try to stop Kent when he punched White again, hard, before almost growling: “If I ever hear you talk that way about me again, I will personally make sure you never step foot on the ice again.”

Jack didn’t know how White still had the audacity to open his mouth, but he said almost nonchalantly: “Chill, Cap. I wasn’t even talking about you, I was just chirping Zimmermann about his ty-” Realization dawned on him. “Oh.”

Jack decided that White had a death wish, because he then proceeded to throw his head back and laugh. “Holy shit, Jack Zimmermann and Kent Parson are both fags, and they fuck-”

This time it was Tater who shut him up by putting a fist to his mouth, and soon, the officials had to drag the whole Falconers roster and even some Aces away from White before they actually killed him.

Meanwhile, Jack and Kent were just standing a few feet away from the fight, frozen, staring at each other. Then, Kent seemed to realize what he had done and Jack saw a flash of panic in his eyes before he visibly tried to suppress it because he didn’t want to let Jack see beneath his carefully constructed layer of arrogance and chill.

In that moment, Jack felt all the bad memories slip away. He didn’t forgive himself. He didn’t forgive Kent. He didn’t know if they could ever be friends again. But there and then, none of that mattered. Jack knew Kent needed him.

“Kenny.”

Kent’s control slowly slipped away, and tears filled his eyes.

“Jack,” he choked, and then Jack’s arms wrapped around him and pulled him against his chest.

They didn’t say anything. Communication had never been their forte anyway. They just stood there, on center ice, holding each other as if the past six years had never happened. They both knew they couldn’t just go back to the way they were, but for now, Jack could give Kent the support he so desperately needed.

They didn’t realize the fight had been broken up, and every single pair of eyes in the arena was watching them, Jack Zimmermann and Kent Parson, hockey legends, old friends, rivals, embracing each other on center ice. They didn’t know what had just happened between these teams. They didn’t realize yet that Kent Parson had just come out. The only thing they saw was a heart-warming reunion, and maybe Jack and Kent wanted to believe that for a few moments too.

“Thank you,” Jack sighed against Kent’s shoulder. This made Kent pull away to look Jack in the eyes and smile that Kent Parson-smile. Not the fake media smile, the real deal.

“You’re welcome.”

 

 

And that’s how Kent Parson found himself sitting on his couch, scrolling through his Tumblr feed, which consisted of an infinite amount of different gifs of The Hug™, while eating a Danish pastry out of the basket that had arrived that morning, accompanied by a card saying:

 

**This doesn’t mean I suddenly like you, but what you did out there on the ice was incredibly brave. Thank you.**

**-ERB**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this was it for now, thank you so much for reading and commenting! I'm currently writing a patater sequel to this and i have so many ideas for other sequels and sidefics, i'll probably have writing material for a long time!  
> Feel free to leave feedback or ideas, it's always appreciated!


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